AP Psych

Selective attention

Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

Intentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Change blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of intentional blindness.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Gestalt

An organization whole; emphasizes our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Figure-ground

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

Grouping

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Depth perception

The ability to see objects in three dimensions, allowing us to judge distance.

Binocular cue

A depth cue that depends on the use of two eyes.

Convergence

A cue to nearby objects' distance enabled by the brain's combining retinal imaging.

Retinal disparity

A binocular cue for perceived depth by comparing retinal images from the two eyes.

Monocular cue

A depth cue such as interposition available to either eye alone.

Perceptual consistency

Perceiving objects as unchanging, with consistent color, brightness, shape, and size.

Color consistency

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected.

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communication.

Metacognition

Cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes.

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category.

Executive functions

Cognitive skills that enable the generation, organization, planning, and implementation of goal-directed behavior.

Heuristics

A simple thinking strategy that allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct; to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

Belief perseverance

The persistence of one's initial concept even after the basis on which it was formed has been discredited.

Framing

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.

Recognition

A measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned.

Relearning

A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

Encoding

The process of getting information into the memory system.

Storage

The process of retaining encoded information over time.

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of a memory store.

Sensory memory

The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Short-term memory

Briefly activated memory of a few items that are later stored or forgotten.

Long-term memory

The relatively permanent and limitless archives of the memory system.

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious active processing of incoming and retrieved information.

Central executive

A memory component that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.

Explicit memory

Retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and declare.

Implicit memory

Memory of learned skills classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection.

Memory consolidation

The neutral storage of long-term memory.

Flashbulb memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Priming

The activation often unconscious of particular associations in memory.

Serial position effect

The tendency to recall best the last items (recency effect) and first items (primary effect).

Anterograde amnesia

An inability to form new memories.

Retrograde amnesia

An inability to remember information from one's past.

Proactive interference

The forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information.

Retroactive interference

The backwards-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information.

Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts.

Deja Vu

The eerie sense that